Fine Sports Books I. [Sportspages, bookseller's catalogue]

SportsPages London, bookseller's catalogue, n.d [c 2008]. Laminated illustrated wrappers,. 116 pp, numerous colour ills. 300 items. From the preface - "The books contained in this catalogue are all classics of their genre. No angling bibliophile, for example, will be ignorant of the works of Blacker, Bowkler or Ronalds, while a cricket library worthy of the name will not be short of works by Nyren, Lambert, Pycroft and Ashley-Cooper. And while Charles Alcock and James Catton are not perhaps names that resonate with the football fan, the collector will be aware of their position at the vanguard of early commentators on the game. We are delighted to offer six books by them, all of them uncommon, and in the case of two, scarce. The field of golfing literature, meanwhile, is wide and well-stocked, and some true classics of the game are included herein: Darwin's Great Courses of the British Isles, Hutchinson's British Golf Links, Clark's Golf A Royal and Ancient Game, and Kerr's Golf Book of East Lothian to name but four. Each is worthy of a place at the high table of golfing literature. Wide and well-stocked are not terms one could apply to the literature of Rugby Union. Old rugby books, i.e. those pre-1940, are thin on the ground and many of them of limited interest. However, some high points do exist, W.JA. Davies' Rugby Football, for example, and Captain Wakelam's Twickenham Calling. For other sports, again we have tried to pluck out real matchwinners, hence Marshall's Annals of Tennis, Dowling's Fistiania, Captain Reid's Croquet and Kerr's History of Curling all make the cut. Very Good.